Columbus Clippers historian and media relations director Joe Santry enjoyed the mid-day walk from his office in right field to Huntington Park's AEP Power Pavilion beyond the left field fence.

The new park has received glowing reviews since opening in April. Santry's pride for the park was evident during the long walk to the three-story building. It's not because he designed the outfield dimensions, laid each brick or hammered each nail. Santry and a handful of collaborators helped Huntington Park become more than a home field for the Clippers with its museum honoring professional baseball in the state's capital.

"Long before we were a football town, we were an important baseball town," Santry said. "That's one thing people don't realize. When they think of Columbus, they think of the Horseshoe and that we're in the middle of a cornfield. But we're a great sports town."

Santry, 55, is not an imposing physical presence. He is slight of stature and wears glasses. Yet, when the topic of conversation turns to baseball, he commands a room in his ability to tell a story.

"When Babe Ruth used to come into town with the Yankees and play exhibition games, the players stayed at the Neil House," Santry said. "Everyone thought Ruth was a notorious ladies' man and his teammates thought at night he'd be out chasing girls.

"What he did every year he came was buy a brand new car and go to Lazarus and buy all the toys there. He'd then drive to St. Vincent's orphanage on the near east side and donate the toys and cars. The only thing he asked was that nobody ever knew this. It was between him and the kids. We didn't find out until we were told stories and shown pictures by older women who were children at that time."

At a moment's notice, Santry will tell stories of hilarious hijinks, broken hearts, heroics, heartwarming tales and sad endings. His common themes are baseball, players and Columbus.

As Huntington Park's construction was moving into its final phase, the Clippers president and general manager, Ken Schnacke, approached Santry. Two decades earlier, Schnacke asked Santry to be the Clippers' official historian.

Now, Schnacke wanted to put Santry's love of the city's baseball history on display.

"Joe, I got a job for you," Schnacke told Santry. "Let's start at this end of the bar and start with the first picture."

Inside the second floor of the pavilion is a 130-foot bar. Beginning at one end are pictures and factoids of baseball history as it relates to Columbus starting with the Buckeyes in 1886 and ending with the groundbreaking of Huntington Park.

Among those helping Santry was Grove City resident and vintage baseball collector Tracy Martin. Two years before Huntington Park was completed, Martin met with Schnacke.

"My idea I threw at Ken was to have things on display like in a museum setting," Martin said. "Joe and I worked together to bring as much of a museum-type atmosphere in the space they had available."

Huntington Park's tribute to the history does not end with the 130-foot bar. Greeting fans as they enter the south entrance of the pavilion are two glass cases. Inside the first case are memorabilia of the Clippers' current Major League affiliate, the Cleveland Indians. There is a Rocky Colavito bat, a chair from Cleveland Municipal Stadium, a replica Bob Feller glove and team photos of the 1920 and 1948 championship teams.

"I had to have a photo of Oscar Gamble's 'fro in there from my younger days," said Santry, referring to the hairstyle of the Indians' outfielder from 1973-75.

Adjacent to the Indians case begins the tribute to Columbus' long history with baseball. Pillars frame large garage doors that open to reveal the playing field for a second-story view. On those pillars are photos and informational paragraphs from each era.

"Everything turned out so great," assistant director of media relations Anthony Slosser said. "Joe pulled it together and made it work. Most fans say that's part of the stadium they like best."

History is not confined to left field. Along the concourse, numerous vitrines present fans with instructions on how to throw certain pitches or display equipment like a pair of baseball spikes from the Civil War or a 100-year-old catcher's mitt.

"I wanted to show the evolution of baseball through equipment," Martin said. "It's one thing to see a picture, but when fans can see a glove from the turn of the century to the 40s and 50s and then a modern glove, it's more authentic and they get more out of that."

"Each vitrine also has three former players," Santry said. "We wanted to honor each generation.

"I had the help of some wonderful friends. It was a work of love for me and it was a conscious effort from a lot of us who are fans, collectors or nuts. Whatever you want to call us."

In 1987, Santry became the team's official historian. His love affair with baseball began in the 60s when his father took him to his first baseball game. Born and raised in Columbus, Santry worked for the Kroger Company for 30 years before joining the Clippers full-time in 2000.

"I could remember when my dad took me to my first game in 1965," Santry said. "For some reason I could remember every little detail, but I can't figure out or remember where I parked my car at the mall.

"I always figured people are born with gifts. Mine is the innate ability to remember factoids."

Santry's technique in gathering those pieces of history is listening intently to former players.

"The secret of being a historian is not memorizing the dates, it's understanding the evolution of the game," he said. "You got to look at it from a human perspective, instead of a numbers perspective.

"You view these men as individuals and people. Once you understand that, everything falls into place."

Santry's work is far from done. On June 23, he had dinner with Martin and the other collectors who helped get Huntington Park ready for opening day. The topic focused on what they can improve for the second half of the season.

"We tried to make it so people could know what a rich history we have," Santry said. "Also, when players' families come they can see dad or grandpa from his playing days.

"Former players and their families from around the country have heard about this and they're sending grandpa's stuff or their stuff. Periodically we change things. I wouldn't say we have enough to fill another park, but we get things weekly where we say, 'This is cool.'" 

Santry recalls colorful players, incidents from Columbus baseball

Joe Santry has a wealth of baseball knowledge as it relates to Columbus. Below are a list of subjects that were at the center of stories Santry told to ThisWeek:

Eddie "Cannonball" Morris

Morris pitched for the Columbus Buckeyes in 1883-84 and was the first pitcher to throw overhand.

"Before he pitched, everyone threw underhand. It was like girls softball. Albert Spalding, of Spalding Sporting Goods, said he was going to ruin the game with his newfangled pitching. Also, when he stood on the Columbus mound, his left arm faced south. That's why all lefties today are known as southpaws.

Eddie "Dummy" Dundon

Dundon was one of the first graduates from the Ohio School for the Deaf.

"He couldn't hear if he was out or safe so when umpires would say 'get off the field' they would make what we know today as the out signal. If he was safe they would put their arms out to say you're all right, stay there. Umpires got so used to using those gestures they do it to this day because of his handicap."

Rudy Kemmler

He was the first catcher to use a chest protector when he played in Columbus in 1883 and 1884.

"His teammates teased him unmercifully for wearing that. Ironically, he was the last to catch pitchers without a mitt."

Henry "Pop" Lloyd

Lloyd was a player with the Negro League's Columbus Buckeyes.

"Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth, two of the game's greatest players, both said Pop Lloyd was the greatest player of all time. He played shortstop in Columbus."

Ralph Lazarus

In 1891, the National League and American Association merged. Columbus was a member of the American Association and owned by Ralph Lazarus.

"The National League wanted Columbus in, but Lazarus had punched the St. Louis owner (Chris von der Ahe) in the nose. The St. Louis owner said he wouldn't join unless Lazarus is out."

Harry Stevens

He invented the hot dog and opened his first concession stand in Columbus.

Recreation Park 1

There were two fields named Recreation Park at the same time in the late 1800s. Recreation Park 1 stood where today is the I-70 and I-71 split near Nation-wide Children's Hospital.

"We don't know of any ball that was hit out of that park, it was so large. There was a stable that housed the team's horse. When players would hit the ball near it, the horse would bend down and eat the ball thinking it was an apple. Outfielders would try to wrestle balls out its mouth."

Recreation Park 2

A historical marker recognized where Recreation Park 2 used to be. Today, a Giant Eagle grocery store is in its place on Whittier Street in German Village.

"It's where Harry Stevens got his start selling hot dogs. We also let a young school use it one fall to play a game they called football. It's where Ohio State played their early home games."

Neil Park

In 1905, the Columbus Senators built the first concrete and steel stadium in America. It was located on Cleveland Avenue. Twelve years later, the stadium collapsed near the third-base line.

"When the umpire yelled 'Play ball' everyone sat down at once and it collapsed. It was right before World War I and the stadium was next to an Army base where they trained the M*A*S*H unit. So all the soldiers who were in the stands were medical people. They jumped into M*A*S*H mode and lined everyone in rows in the outfield. Ambulances from Mount Carmel came rushing down, but couldn't pull into the lot because it was full.

"Our shortstop, Wally Gerber and his teammate Ray Demmitt, grabbed their bats and ran out to center field and knocked a hole big enough to drive the ambulances onto the field. After the field was cleared the owner, Joe Tinker, didn't want to give his money back and people sat around the infield. During that game, in extra innings, a Louisville player hit a ball toward Demmitt in center field. He lost the ball in the sun and it bounced over his head, through that hole and down a sewer for a home run. It's the only home run in baseball history to officially go down a sewer."

Willie Stargell

Stargell became a Hall of Fame player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before he broke into the majors, he played in Columbus in 1962.

"I once asked him what it was like playing baseball in Columbus in 1962. He told me that he was the first generation of African-American players who didn't play in the Negro Leagues. Back then, they signed players right out of high school and they would send them to smaller teams in the deep south. Segregation was prevalent and sometimes they might have been the only African-Americans in that town. Willie said when he arrived in Columbus he was amazed people of every race mingled on the streets every day. He said, 'Columbus had beauty, style and class and restored my faith in mankind.'

"I always thought the city of Columbus should put that on their letterhead."

Jimmy Williams

Williams was a Columbus native who brought the game of baseball back to the city after the Civil War. He played in the first baseball game in Columbus in April 1866 on the ground of the Franklin County Lunatic Asylum at the corner of Broad and Parsons.

In 1894, Williams served as a mentor to Ban Johnson who became president of the Western League. Three years later, the Western League became the American League.

"All of this is because of Jimmy. He helped Ban out and while he's doing all this, Jimmy is developing the Columbus Water System. He's responsible for indoor plumbing in Columbus. I thank him every morning I don't have to go out to the woodshed to use the outhouse.

"Jimmy also developed the Columbus Public School system. He was a creative genius. When he died he was buried in an unmarked grave in Greenlawn Cemetery. One of the founding fathers of baseball who spent his whole life in Columbus does not have a headstone."

The original Crash Davis

Next to the Indians display is a Clippers' case. Among the bats Santry has on display is from Nick Cullop.

"He was arguably the greatest minor-league player ever. He drove in more runs than any other minor leaguer in history and he played in Columbus for a decade."